Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl.

About Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl

Katharine Marjory Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl, DBE, known as the Marchioness of Tullibardine from 1899 to 1917, was a Scottish noblewoman and Scottish Unionist Party politician. She was the first woman to be elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) in Scotland, despite having campaigned against women's suffrage before it was granted in 1918. She was the first woman to serve in a British Conservative government. She later found herself at odds with her party and resigned the Whip in 1935 over the India Bill. She became strongly anti-fascist in the 1930s and criticised authoritarian regimes in Soviet Russia, Italy and Spain as well as Nazi Germany. She was given the nickname 'Red Duchess' for these views.